Crown and methods of making same

ABSTRACT

A crown particularly adapted for use with a liquid refreshment container wherein the crown is adapted to be turned off the threads on the container or pried off the container with a bottle opener. The crown has a smooth edge configuration so that it can be readily grasped by the fingers for turning without the fingers being cut by the sharp edges which are normal with a conventional serrated crown. The smooth edge configuration for the crown is secured by forming a lip portion on the peripheral edge of the crown. The crown may be formed by a forming die which provides the lip configuration at the same time it crimps the skirt of the crown, or a conventional crown may be forced through a sizing die to provide the lip configuration.

United States Patent Myer [ 51 Dec. 26, 1972 [54] CROWN AND METHODS OFMAKING SAME [72] Inventor: Caleb H. Myer, Columbia, Pa.

[73] Assignee: Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation, Los Angels, Calif.

[22] Filed: Dec. 10, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 880,521

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 770,989, Oct. 28,1968, Pat. No.

[52] US. Cl ..l13/l2l A, 72/335, 72/348 [51] Int. Cl ..B2ld 51/00, B21d28/00 [58] Field of Search ..1 13/121 A, -121 R; 215/39;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1970 Hawkins et a]. ..113/121 A 2/1970 Myer ..215/39 8/1965 St. Jacques ..2l5/39 6/1964 St.Jacques ..2l5/39 2,119,662 6/1938 Williams ..113/121A 2,063,454 12/1936McManus ..215/39 Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham AssistantExaminer-Michael J. Keenan Attorney-Fitch, Even, Tobin & Luedeka 57ABSTRACT A crown particularly adapted for use with a liquid refreshmentcontainer wherein the crown is adapted to be turned off .the'threads onthe container or pried off the container with a bottle opener. The crownhas a smooth edge configuration so that it can be readily' 2 Claims, 5Drawing Figures PATENTED 25 I97? 3, 707, 133

SHEEI 1 [IF 2 INVENTOR CALEB H- MYER ATTOR NEY 5 PATENTED DEC 2 6 I972SHEET 2 [1F 2 CALE Z EJY Q S ATTORNEYS CROWN AND METHODS OF MAKING SAMEThis is a division .of application Ser. No. 770,989, filed Oct. 28,1968, now US Pat. No. 3,497,098, issued Feb. 24, 1970.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The inventionrelates to a new and improved crown particularly adapted for bottles.Specifically, it is adapted for use with crowns which may either bepried off the bottle or twisted off the bottle.

2. Description of the Prior Art 7 In the prior art the crown is providedwith an outwardly extending skirt or flange, and the metal is so thinthat the outstanding edges are sharp and may injure the hands of personswho may have a need to grasp the crown. It is the need to obviate thesharp outstanding edges of prior crowns that has caused the developmentof the protective lip structure of the invention herein.

In U.S. Pat. No. 3,198,369, an attempt was made to form a protective lipor edge for a crown to eliminate the sharp outstanding edges of theprior art crowns. This particular structure required the rolling inof aninwardly directed protective lip for the purpose of removing the sharpedges. The peripheral region of the finished crown still maintains agenerally scalloped configuration. This scalloped configuration andinwardly directed lip was formed by the use of a serrated ram coactingwith the serrations of the forming die. This requires the keying of theserrated ram relative to the forming die. Such a feature is extremelydifficult to maintain and forfeits all the advantages of the floatingram press which is the standard machine in the crown manufacturing arttoday.

The particular two methods set forth in this case overcome thedeficiencies of the particular method of manufacturing the crown of Pat.No. 3,198,369. One method utilizes the conventional free floating ram toform the crown in a single cycle of the press. The second method permitsthe making of conventional crowns and the modification of theseconventional crowns to the smooth edge configuration only as required bymarketing demands. The inwardly directed lip with scalloped edgeconfiguration has been replaced by a very simple lip configuration witha smooth surface forming a circular configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is directed to a crown which hasat its peripheral edge a protective lip formed by turning downwardly thenormally horizontally extending skirt peripheral edge. This down-turnedprotective lip removes the normal sharp edge configuration normallyassociated with a conventional crown. A line passing through the centerof the cross section of the protective lip and parallel to the axis ofthe crown, when moved through the full 360 circumference of the crownwill form a cylinder having a true circular cross section as compared tothe prior art structures which will generate a scallop construction.This crown configuration may be formed by taking the conventional crownand passing it through a crown sizing die to form the protective lip.This permits the modification of the conventional crowns to theprotective lip crowns based upon the need of the marketplace. The secondmethod of manufacture provides for the direct forming of the crown withits skirt portion and protective lip in a onecycle operation of aconventional free floating ram crown punch press.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation incross section illustrating the crown;

FIG. 2 is a section through the crown mounted on a bottle;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the forming punch and die prior tocrown formation;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 3 after thecrown formation; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate method of manufacturingthe crown using a sizing die.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The crown 2 of the presentinvention is formed of sheet metal and includes a flat top portiongenerally indicated at 4 which is closed and which is in the nature ofthe bottom of a cup. This cup has the peripheral flange turned at theedges thereof as indicated by 6. The annular flange 6 extends into anoutwardly extending portion generally indicated by the reference numeral8, which is'referred to as the skirt of the crown. This much of thestructure is conventional in the normal prior art crown. I v

However, in the ordinary crown the skirt normally continues outwardly ina generally horizontal direction to form the sharp edge configurationwhich is found objectionable in those crowns which are meant to beturned off a bottle. To eliminate the sharp edges, a protective lip 10is formed by turning downwardly the peripheral edge of the crown.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that when the crown is crimped tothe bottle a sharp edge configuration is eliminated. The bottle 14 hasan upper surface 16 which is engaged .by the sealing liner 12 of thecrown. A shoulder 18,0n the bottle serves as the retaining surface forthe crown, and the crown is crimped around this retaining surface. Theoutside surface 20 of the bottle extends downwardly from the shoulder18. The downwardly directed protective lip 10, after it is crimped tothe bottle, is now directed towards the surface 20 of the bottle.Consequently, the normally sharp edge which would exist in theconventional crown has now been directed towards the surface 20 of thebottle, and there exists only a smooth surface to be engaged by oneattempting to twist the crown off the bottle.

The protective lip 10 lies fully in a cylinder which is generated aroundthe longitudinal axis of the crown. Consequently, the protective lipstructure 10 forms a smooth circle as compared to the normal scallopedconfiguration associated with the prior art structures.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the apparatus for the forming of the crown of FIG. 1in a conventional single cycle operation of a punch press. A blankingdie 24 coacts with a punch 26 to stamp and form the crown. Sheet metalis fed between the blanking die 24 and punch 26. The forming die 27within die 24 has a cavity 28 which is used to form the crown. The punch26 is formed of two parts; namely, a stamping punch 30 and a forming ram32.

Referring to FIG. 4, the stamping punch 30 is shown in its lowermostposition where it coacts with the blanking die 24 to stamp a circularblank of metal out of the sheet metal 22. After the circular blank hasbeen stamped by the punch 30 coacting with the die 24, the forming ram32 moves downward to the position shown in FIG. 4 to coact with the diecavity 28 of the forming die 27 to form the crown of FIG. 1. It will beseen that coaction between the ram 32 with its lip fonning sleeve 36 andthe die cavity 28 forms the protective lip at the same time as the topand skirt portion of the crown are formed. The forming ram 32 is theconventional free floating ram which is not keyed in any way to theconfiguration of the forming die 28 and, therefore, is free floating andcapable of movement independent of the stamping punch 30 both in alongitudinal and rotational direction.

FIG. 5 discloses a second and simpler technique for forming the crown ofFIG. 1. The crowns formed by the structure of FIGS. 3 and 4 will beformed with the protective lip at the same time the crown structure isformed. It may be desirable to produce only the conventional prior artsharp edge crowns and modify these to provide the protective lipstructure. The apparatus of FIG. 5 will carry out this modification. Theconventional prior art crown 2' is fed through a sizing die 40 by a maleplunger or by a punch or rarn to alter the sharp, generally horizontal,edge configuration to the upwardly directed protective lip portionyielding the crown 2 of this invention.

The aforesaid two methods provide a crown with a smooth configuration,and this crown may be made with conventional crown forming machinerywithout the use of any elaborate modifications thereto.

I claim:

1. A method of manufacturing a crown adapted to be applied to a bottle,said crown having a top surface with an annular flange portion dependingnormal therefrom, a skirt portion extending outwardly of the dependingflange and a smooth protective lip structure on the peripheral edge ofthe outwardly extending skirt por-,

tion, comprising the steps of stamping a circular blank of sheet metal,bending the peripheral edge portion of the blank normal to the plane ofthe blank to form a top surface with a depending annular flange portion,drawing said annular flange portion to form a ribbed body portion ofsaid flange terminating in an outwardly extending skirt portion having asmooth annular peripheral edge portion, and bending said smooth annularedge portion normal to and away from said top portion to form a smoothprotective lip structure of generally circular configuration, wherebysaid smooth lip structure will lie within a cylinder generated aroundthe longitudinal axis of the crown and said lip structure will be devoidof any indentations.

2. A method of manufacturing a crown adapted to be applied to a bottle,said crown having a top surface with an annular flange portion dependingnormal therefrom, a skirt portion extending outwardly of the dependingflange and a smooth protective lip structure on the peripheral edge ofthe outwardly extending skirt portion, comprising the steps of stampinga circular blank of sheet metal, bending the peripheral edge portion ofthe blank normal to the plane of the blank to form a top surface with ade nding annular flange portion, drawmg said annular ange portion toform a ribbed flange terminating in an outwardly extending skirt portionhaving a scalloped edge, pressing a ring portion inwardly adjacent saidscalloped edge to form a smooth annular peripheral edge portion, andbending said smooth annular peripheral edge portion normal to and awayfrom said top portion to form a smooth protective lip structure ofgenerally circular configuration, whereby said smooth lip structure willlie within a cylinder generated around the longitudinal axis of thecrown and said lip structure will be devoid of any indentations.

t i nu:

1. A method of manufacturing a crown adapted to be applied to a bottle,said crown having a top surface with an annular flange portion dependingnormal therefrom, a skirt portion extending outwardly of the dependingflange and a smooth protective lip structure on the peripheral edge ofthe outwardly extending skirt portion, comprising the steps of stampinga circular blank of sheet metal, bending the peripheral edge portion ofthe blank normal to the plane of the blank to form a top surface with adepending annular flange portion, drawing said annular flange portion toform a ribbed body portion of said flange terminating in an outwardlyextending skirt portion having a smooth annular peripheral edge portion,and bending said smooth annular edge portion normal to and away fromsaid top portion to form a smooth protective lip structure of generallycircular configuration, whereby said smooth lip structure will liewithin a cylinder generated around the longitudinal axis of the crownand said lip structure will be devoid of any indentations.
 2. A methodof manufacturing a crown adapted to be applied to a bottle, said crownhaving a top surface with an annular flange portion depending normaltherefrom, a skirt portion extending outwardly of the depending flangeand a smooth protective lip structure on the peripheral edge of theoutwardly extending skirt portion, comprising the steps of stamping acircular blank of sheet metal, bending the peripheral edge portion ofthe blank normal to the plane of the blank to form a top surface with adepending annular flange portion, drawing said annular flange portion toform a ribbed flange terminating in an outwardly extending skirt portionhaving a scalloped edge, pressing a ring portion inwardly adjacent saidscalloped edge to form a smooth annular peripheral edge portion, andbending said smooth annular peripheral edge portion normal to and awayfrom said top portion to form a smooth protective lip structure ofgenerally circular configuration, whereby said smooth lip structure willlie within a cylinder generated around the longitudinal axis of thecrown and said lip structure will be devoid of any indentations.